Our Thanksgiving Tree

 

I put a Thanksgiving Tree in the hallway outside our classroom. Each child wrote down things that they were thankful for on each leaf. I was very happy to see that most wrote the letters and words all by themselves  – They are learning something at school!! Here is the list of things they are thankful for. They are really cute!!  Some are repeated but that is because more than one child thought of the same thing.

 

* Snow

* Dolphin (a stuffed animal I believe )

* Jod (I think it was supposed to be God )

* Dog

* Mom

* Church

* Field trip

* Dad

* Food

* Shoes

* Season

* Christmas

* Snow

* Me (not as in Miss Follett, me, I mean one of the children are thankful for themselves )

* Toys

* Daddy

* Brother

* Pappy

* God

* Bible

* Mommy

* Brother

* Ears, eyes

* God

* Bible

* Teddy bear

* Mom, Dad

* Clothes

* Papa

 

Thanksgiving Fun at School

 

Despite the fact that we had a later start this morning at school because of the snow, we had a fun day! I had a lot of Thanksgiving activities planned for the day, so I was glad that we were still able to do all of them. (I won’t mention the fact that I skipped over Numbers class and Phonics review today ) This is Thanksgiving week, and we certainly have a lot to be thankful for! In the hallway outside our classroom, I put up a "Thanksgiving Tree". The children were each given 8 leaves to write down things they are thankful for. I will have to take a picture of it, and write down the list of all that they are thankful for when the tree is complete. It is rather cute . We read a story about The Plump and Perky Turkey and then the children got to trace their hands on paper and decorate their own "turkeys". During "rest time" the children watched a movie called "Squanto and the First Thanksgiving." It was a biography of Squanto’s life, the Indian who helped the Pilgrims when they arrived in America, and it helped the children see the Thanksgiving story from the Indian’s perspective. After the movie was over, they got to cut out their own Indian headdresses. They thought it was so neat that they could pretend to be Squanto.  We then headed down to the kitchen where we made our own sugar cookies (thanks to Betty Crocker ) with turkey, leaf and pumpkin cookie cutters. As the cookies baked and cooled, they got to decorate their Indian vests. We then used paint brushes (ones that were brand new and hadn’t been used for painting yet ) to decorate the cookies. Make sure you check out the pictures! It was definitely a fun day, and I am looking forward to these next two days doing more fun Thanksgiving activities! 

Roadside America Field Trip

 

We had a fun time at Roadside America today! Because the place didn’t open till 10:00, we didn’t leave right away. I put on a Thomas the Tank Engine movie for them to pass the time away, but after about 15 minutes, they informed me they were "bored". So, I got out the train set, and they created their own Thomas the Tank Engine railroad. Two mommies soon showed up, and we headed out. I took two of the children with me in the van, and the rest went with the one mom who drove the other vehicle. I was the "leader" which was a rather scary experience for me because I stink at directions, and I want to make sure I don’t lose the person behind me. Thankfully, driving to Roadside America is mostly straight highway, and not too complicated (at least for some ) Well, we got there in one piece, and spent about an hour going through the display. The children seemed to really enjoy it, but I think we went around the entire display about 3 or 4 times, viewing it from 3 different levels, to get the full effect (which threatened to get "boring" for some ). Let’s just say…short attention spans . But I think it was definitely worth the trip. My favorite part was when they turned off all the lights, and all you saw was the lights in the houses and various buildings lit up for the night time display. The American flag lit up and the Statue of Libery lit up as well. They played the National Anthem and then "God Bless America". That song still gives me the goose bumps.  What a great God we serve and what a great country He has given us to live in!! 

 

Happy Birthday, Jen!!

 

Hope you have a great day!

 

Thanks for being such a great "big sister" and for being such a great next-door neighbor!!

 

Enjoy the pictures!!  Thanks for being here for us throughout the years!!

 

Don’t get too emotional  

 

I was debating about putting the most recent pictures on that Alayna took after she did your hair, but I figured you wouldn’t appreciate that too much!!!